Retail Consortium speaks out against new business rate proposals

Director general of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), Bill Moyes, has spoken out against proposals to re-localise business rates.

The threat to return control of business rates to local government is just one of a number of tax reforms proposed. The BRC fears this could prove disastrous for retail - an industry already experiencing uncertainty.

Bill Moyes, said, “Returning to local business rates would be returning to an inconsistent and ineffective system that in the past, proved a failure. Charges fluctuated massively from one council to another and major discrepancies ended with business and local government at loggerheads with each other. We cannot let this happen again - businesses need to be protected from these discrepancies and unfair increases.

“Government has muddled its way through changes to local government funding and rather than solving problems of their own making, they are looking to pass further burdens onto business,” said Moyes.